


S.H.I.E.L.D Training Facility - Location: Classified

by papi_chulo



Series: Hitman AU [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Hitmen, Gen, Hitman AU, Pre-Relationship, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, hitman - Freeform, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:34:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27371266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/papi_chulo/pseuds/papi_chulo
Summary: James Buchanan Barnes, code name Winter Soldier, has arrived at the S.H.I.E.L.D training facility to begin his training as an agent. His past is murky and even he is unsure of how he ended up here.Tony Stark has finally been cleared to become an agent handler at S.H.I.E.L.D and he wants the best in the business to be his first.(Or, the first instalment in my Hitman AU where Bucky is Agent 47 and Tony is Diana)
Series: Hitman AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1999330
Kudos: 3





	S.H.I.E.L.D Training Facility - Location: Classified

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, is this me starting a new series even tho my hawksilver fic is still a WIP? I think it is.
> 
> I've been toying with this idea for a few months as I started replaying hitman 1 & 2 during lockdown and now the UK is entering yet another lockdown so I figured now's better than ever. I managed to bang this one out in like two hours after I went to a bottomless brunch and drank an obscene amount of cocktails so I'm hoping that I can get the next few works in the series out pretty quickly but given my history with updating I can't make any promises.

James Buchanan Barnes turned back to watch the helicopter that had dropped him off fly away. Snow was just starting to fall again and the bright white of the sky was almost blinding given the fact he'd been forced to wear a blindfold from the moment he'd boarded the helicopter. S.H.I.E.L.D took their security seriously but that was to be expected. So had HYDRA.

He turned away to look at the other end of the helipad where there was a set of stairs at the top of which stood a familiar figure. Tony Stark. The one who'd come to visit him at the hospital in Romania. Stark had been the one to tell him his name, James Buchanan Barnes. James didn't remember that. As far as he knew he was the Winter Soldier. The Asset. Soldat. All of the above.

Regardless, Stark was the reason he was here. About to enter a S.H.I.E.L.D facility and re-train as a S.H.I.E.L.D assassin, when he'd spent the last however many years working for HYDRA instead. 

"Snowflake!" Stark called and stretched out his arms, as if he wanted a hug - James would not be giving him a hug, "I'm so glad you're here." 

"Mr. Stark." James greeted as he walked up the stairs.

"Still not very talkative I see, oh well, I'll charm a conversation out of you soon Winter, don't you worry." Stark smirked and gestured for James to follow him. The facility was built into the side of a mountain

"Welcome to the S.H.I.E.L.D training facility. Sorry about the blindfold but security is priority number one as I'm sure you're familiar with. That HYDRA bunch are a nasty group of characters, right?" Stark snorted.

James grunted.

"I'm gonna take that grunt as a yes." Stark nodded to himself, "Anyway, we have a short training plan set up for you. Obviously I know what you're capable of but Mr. Pierce doesn't so the training is mainly for him than anyone else to see what you can do. Between you and me, he's not really on board with me bringing on an ex-HYDRA operative as my first ever agent but I think we can do great things together."

"Do you always talk this much Stark?" James interrupted Stark's rambling speech.

Stark paused for a moment before replying, "Well, I am a handler. It's sort of my job to be constantly talking to you during missions."

"I work alone." James said.

"Not anymore, Snowflake. I'm afraid S.H.I.E.L.D requires an agent to have a handler to provide Intel support throughout missions. You're stuck with me now." Stark turned to look at James for the first time since they started walking through the facility to flash a 1000-watt smile at him, "Well, unless you fail your training. Which is very unlikely so if you do I'll know you did it on purpose and I'll be extremely upset."

"I'll keep that in mind." James replied. He wouldn't.

"Good, so I'll take you to meet Pierce and show you to your room. I'll take you down to see the gym as well, you look like you work out a lot." Stark's eyes briefly flickered down to look at James' left bicep and then honed in on the metal hand poking out from the sleeve of the black puffer jacket he'd been provided when he got in the helicopter. He'd been sweltering hot in he chopper but now he was here he was grateful for it. Although the cold was still affecting his arm. The scarred skin around his shoulder always hurt more in the cold.

"I completely forgot about that. I've been working on some plans for a new arm for you. That thing is seconds away from falling apart." Stark scoffed.

"I'd rather you didn't." James frowned. Well, more so than his natural facial expression anyway.

"Barnes, I can hear the plates scraping against each other from here. You can't tell me that's comfortable." Stark tilted his head, looking at James sympathetically.

"Don't look at me like that." James said, "The arm is fine."

Stark sighed, "If you say so. The plans are ready though, if you change your mind."

"I won't." James replied.

"Alright, whatever. We're here. This is Pierce's office whilst he's at the facility. He's not here often but obviously he had to be here to meet you, his new favourite agent." Stark's voice was dripping with sarcasm. Even James could pick up on that.

Stark knocked on the door and waited for a call to enter before opening the door and leading James into the room. 

It was considerably better decorated than the dark, gloomy metal corridor they'd been walking down before. The wallpaper was a deep green with gold filigree accents, the floor was a dark hardwood and all the furniture matched. Instead of a desk chair, there was a leather arm chair, the same shade of green as the wall and the same type of dark wood as the floor. There was an ornate fireplace on the far left of the room, crackling and popping as it burned. Stood in front of the fire, looking up at an expensive looking painting, was a man with his hands behind his back in a neatly tailored suit.

Pierce turned around and faced Stark. He didn't glance over at James once. James didn't like that. It made him feel like an animal. He felt like if the man did look at him, he'd look at James' chin or his forehead like they tell you to do with apes lest you piss them off and they turn violent. James did not like this man.

"Anthony, a pleasure as always." Pierce said, not moving from his place to shake anyone's hand.

"Indeed, Sir. I'm just giving Barnes the tour of the facility before his training begins tomorrow." Stark's voice took on a different tone when speaking to Mr. Pierce. It was obedient, respectful. A hint of fear.

"Well, I can't wait to see how the Winter Soldier himself performs. If you'll excuse me, I'm incredibly busy at the moment." Pierce turned back and resumed staring at the painting.

James turned to look at Stark. The smaller man's jaw clenched, so tight James thought he might break a tooth before he turned around and stormed out, leaving James to follow along behind him. 

Stark was silent as they walked further along the seemingly endless metal corridor until the sound of Pierce's office door behind them closing echoed down to them and he broke.

"I fucking hate that man!" Stark exclaimed, stopping in his tracks and turning to look at James with his hands on his hips. James stopped and faced Stark.

"He does appear... Ignorant." James said, wanting to agree with Stark but also insulting your new employer on your first day is not to be recommended.

"God, he didn't even look at you once. As if you weren't even there. I swear, if he wasn't funding my research projects I would not be working here." Stark ranted, "He tells me I can finally be a handler, that I can source my own agent and then when I locate literally the best assassin in the business he tells me you're not the one."

"I can understand why given my past with HYDRA." James tried to placate Stark.

"The past that no one, including yourself, knows anything about. None of us have any idea what happened to land you in that hospital in Romania and HYDRA certainly weren't coming to save your ass anytime soon. So clearly, you've fallen out of their favour." Stark explained, before turning around and starting to walk again, "Come on, I'll show you your room and the gym. Then I'm gonna go tinker until I feel like I won't murder Pierce on sight."

\---

James' room was basic. A metal door that required a keycard to open, the only people with copies were James himself and Stark, though he did promise he would always knock first because he didn't want to catch James 'polishing his pistol'. The room itself was small and rectangular, all the walls were white and the floor was just grey concrete. There was a single bed pushed in the corner opposite a metal sink & toilet. A small wardrobe had been filled with gym clothes and combat gear.

That was it.

Clearly the S.H.I.E.L.D funding went more towards Pierce's office than the staffs' living quarters.

James did at least have freedom to move around the entire lower floor where his room and the gym was located. Stark did say his lab was around somewhere but all James knew was the direction the other man had left in to get there. He figured he'd put in some hours at the gym and then roam the halls until he found Stark.

He also wanted to track down the library Stark mentioned to him as well on their way to his room. Apparently there were some military records there that would shed some light on James' life up until he went M.I.A nine years ago during his deployment in Afghanistan. Stark said that S.H.I.E.L.D had been unsuccessful so far in locating any information about what had happened in those nine years. Except for the rumours of the Winter Soldier of course, but word of mouth was always unreliable even at the best of times.

James looked at himself in the mirror that hung above the metal sink. It was small and made from stainless steel instead of glass. As if he was a prisoner.

Chin length brunette hair, slick with grease. He'd need to wash that after he was done in the gym, it wasn't a good look currently. There was a hair tie in the toiletries kit he'd been provided with so he brushed his hair through roughly wth his fingers and pulled it back into a small bun at the back of his head. His eyes were a dull grey, if he didn't know any better he'd think he was dead. He'd seen eyes like this before in corpses of victims. 

James remembered them vaguely. It came to him in flashes. He remembered nothing of HYDRA but he could see the images of the people he'd killed. Their bodies led out on a Tarmac road after he'd made them crash. Faces frozen with an expression of fear and shock, only tainted by a red dot on their forehead, perfectly centred because one of the things he did know was that his marksmanship was unbeatable. It was the in between that he couldn't recall.

He didn't know how HYDRA had got their hands on him in the first place or how they'd gotten him to do their bidding. He didn't know what had happened to land him in that hospital in Romania where Tony Stark had tracked him down. 

All he knew now was that he had to prove himself in his training.

\---

James braced his hands against the tiles in the communal shower and let the hot water run down his back. It soothed the aches in his muscles, especially in his left shoulder. The weight of his arm was a constant burden.

He'd spent an hour on the treadmill listening to the rhythmic thud of his feet hitting the machine. Then he'd moved to the punching bag, working out any anger he had inside him. He favoured his right arm when he was punching, he'd rather not use the left if it wasn't necessary. It hurt. He probably would've punched through the bag as well if he'd used it. 

The complimentary shampoo doubled as a shower gel and was fragrance-free & antibacterial, of course. Everything he'd seen in this facility so far was best described as clinical, bar Pierce's office of course. 

Nonetheless, it felt good to wash his skin and his hair. There was a pair of scissors provided in his toiletries kit; He thought he might cut it.

He'd locate Stark first though.

\---

James wandered the halls for a while but he couldn't find Stark's lab.

\---

After dinner in the canteen with the rest of the recruits where he'd sat by himself in the corner, perfectly positioned to see every exit in the room, he headed back to his room. He brushed his teeth with cheap white toothbrush and off-brand, plain toothpaste he settled brown into his bed.

It was uncomfortable. The mattress was only around an inch thick. If he hadn't spent some time in the military learning to sleep anywhere, he wouldn't have gotten a wink of sleep.

\---

"Alright, Snowflake, welcome to your first day of training. This is a simulation machine that is going to recreate a mission previously undertaken by Director Fury. So if you just hop in and pop in those earphones there." Stark guided him into the machine, "That's it, it might help if you close your eyes just as it takes you under."

The machine seemed familiar for some reason. There were endless wires that Stark plugged into various ports to hook it up. James couldn't work out what it reminded him of. Maybe something out of a film he'd seen before the war.

Stark had come to fetch him after breakfast hitch was served at 6 am. Too early if you asked James but he was no stranger to forcing down tasteless porridge at any hour just to make sure he had something in his system.

\---

"Welcome back to Romania, Barnes. This is not a coincidence by the way, Pierce wants you to fail." Stark's voice was coming from the sky, like he was God himself speaking down to his subjects.

"Where are you?" James frowned, staring up at the sky.

"I'm not in the simulation, I'm stood just next to you in real life. In actual missions I'll be talking to you in an ear pierce but in these simulations my voice is just kind of around." James could also hear tapping, like Stark was typing away on a laptop. He must be taking some data for his file.

James just grunted in response.

"So, you are currently stood in front of the Bright Light black site in Bucharest, I'm sure you've heard of it." Stark explained.

"CIA." James nodded as if Stark could see him. Maybe he could.

"Exactly. You know they housed Khalid Mohammed here after 9/11." Stark said, offhand, "Your target this time is one Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, another name I'd imagine you're familiar with. Now of course the official story is that Fury took out Strucker on Hydra Island however he was actually detained and transported here. It's pretty common knowledge that the CIA have some pretty killer interrogation techniques so if anyone could get anything out of the guy it'd be them."

"That explains the missing body." James said, almost to himself.

"Well, Nick did also let off a bomb but that's neither here nor there. The point is, Strucker was housed here for a year and the CIA got nothing out of him. They wouldn't let us in the site either even though we were the ones who captured him. So Fury had to infiltrate and take Strucker out himself, it was too risky to leave him alive, you know, given his history." Stark had a habit of speeding up more and more the longer he spoke for, as if once he got started he just couldn't stop.

"Any specific requirements?" James asked.

"Not this time, Strucker just needs to go. I will warn you however, this place has some of the heaviest security I've ever seen. How Fury pulled this one off back in the day I'll never know, but I have faith in you. I wouldn't have brought you in as my recruit otherwise." There was a small smile on Stark's face, James could hear it in his voice.

James finally allowed himself to take in his surroundings from the spot he'd been dropped in. He was concealed behind a bush at the front of the site. He could see several heavily armed guards defending the main entrance. A truck pulled up and it took a group of three of them to clear it for entry and escort it into the building.

He was dressed in all black. Cargo trousers and a tight black long sleeve shirt. The only gear he had on hand was a pistol with a suppressor already attached and a type of garrotte that felt like FiberWire with two handles on either end. That was fine, if he was the best in the business as everyone kept saying then he'd probably worked with less than that before. 

Off to the left there was a chain link fence with barbed wire along the top however there was a small gap that wasn't lined with the wire. That was his opening. He waited until the guards weren't looking in that direction before he quickly yet silently walked over and hoisted himself up and over the fence, landing on the ground with his knees bent and hastily making his way to crouch behind a nearby car. 

He peeked his head around the front to establish how many guards were patrolling around this side. There were six he could spot, all armed with automatic rifles and Kevlar. None of them seemed to walk around in any particular order or route and so it would just be a matter of chance as to when he could get past. 

In a moment of exceptional luck and timing, there was a loud bang from the other side of the building which drew all of their attention so James took his chance. He made it about halfway towards a door on the side of the building when one of the guards spun around and looked straight at him. As the guard was reaching to pull up his gun, James grabbed him and used the butt of his pistol to clock him in the temple. He dragged the guy around behind a bunch of crates that were stacked against the wall of the building and dropped him there, quickly searching his person for anything useful. 

In a split second decision he decided to strip the guy of his hat and jacket and pulled it on himself, stealing the guard's gun as well and putting the strap onto his own shoulder.

"Oh, I love a good disguise." Stark's voice came from the sky again, "Pull that hat down a bit, can't have anyone seeing your face too closely."

"Are you going to talk the entire time?" James growled, fiddling with the guard's walkie talkie to get it on the correct channel to listen into the rest of the guards communications.

"Like I said, it's my job, you'd better get used to it. I might be able to lend a hand if you'd just ask nicely." Stark might as well have been winking and digging his elbow into James' side to make sure he got the hint.

James huffed before saying, "Fine. What do you know?"

"That wasn't very nice but we can work on that. Strucker's cell number is twelve and he's on a very strict schedule, he's in there for twenty-three hours a day and only comes out for recreation or a shower. Lucky for you, it's shower day today." Stark sad, still tapping away at his laptop. That was really starting to annoy James.

"Thank you." James stood up form behind the pile of crates and began walking towards the door confidently.

He let himself in with relative ease and started down the corridor he found himself in.

"Second floor, Snowflake." Stark butted in, once again.

James didn't respond. 

"It's honestly a miracle this all took place in the eighties because once these places started using key cards and fingerprints everything got a whole lot more difficult. The amount of fingers you're going to have to cut off moving forward is, frankly, gross." Stark was rambling.

"Stark, shut up." James growled.

"Barnes, if you keep speaking to yourself people will get suspicious." Stark admonished.

There was a sign marking a stairwell up ahead, he entered and headed up two flights. He found himself in yet another bleak corridor - this week seemed to be full of those - lined with metal doors leading to what he suspected were cells. He reached into the pockets of the jacket he'd stole as he walked along, finding a ring of keys.

"The guards all have a skeleton key, the top of it looks like a three leaf clover." Stark advised. 

James was reluctant to admit that the Intel Stark was providing was making this ten times easier than what it probably would've been without him shouting down from the sky.

James pulled the ring of keys out and held the one with the three-leaf clover top in his hand. Strucker's cell was clearly parked with a big, bold '12'.

His target was laying on a metal bed with no mattress when he opened the door. At least S.H.I.E.L.D had given him a mattress, inch thick or not. Strucker looked up at James.

"Time for a shower." James said.

"But it's only 4 o'clock." Strucker frowned, sitting up on the glorified bench.

"There's been an incident, your schedule has been altered. Get up." James improvised to get Strucker on his feet, clamping his hands in the handcuffs that'd been in the other pocket of the jacket.

"Showers are down the corridor and on your right. There's no one else there." Stark said.

James led Strucker towards where Stark had directed him, opening the door to the shower block and shoving Strucker in ahead of him.

"You going to take my cuffs off?" For a man being detained in a CIA black site, Strucker had some nerve.

"No." James said, lifting his pistol and hitting Strucker right between the eyes when he turned around to face him.

James' vision went blank and he woke up again in the chair of the simulation machine.

\---

"Lovely touch with the 'no' at the end by the way, not even letting him get a good quote for his last words." Stark was leading James to an interview room now, "You used the pistol as well! That's pretty much exactly how Fury did it, you'll have to run that mission a few more times on your own without my input so we can see how you work under pressure but otherwise, great work!"

"Thank you." James said.

Stark had told him he'd be interviewed by a Dr. Banner about his memories with Hydra and his life before the army and Afghanistan. Apparently every initiate was interviewed about their past training however James got the feeling his would be slightly different.

"This interview isn't anything to worry about by the way. If you nail the training then you're in, it's just for our records really." Stark shrugged, looking down at the smart phone he was tapping away on. This man was always tapping.

Stark opened the door to the interview room and waited until James was settled in his seat before leaving and closing the door behind him. There was a one-way window next to the door which James assumed Stark would be watching from, most likely with Pierce by his side. Scrutinising James. Watching for any small fuck up.

Dr. Banner was not what he expected. Stark had mentioned that they were good friends outside of working hours and tinkered around in his lab together. He was expecting an eccentric and talkative young guy like Stark. Banner was reserved and smart. Not that Stark wasn't smart of course, it just wasn't obvious in the same way.

"So, James, lets start with your childhood..."

\---

After a week of running the same simulation over and over again and killing Strucker in every single imaginative way he could think of, James was allowed into Stark's lab. He sat off to the side observing whilst his handler was fiddling around with what looked like the beginnings of a small robot.

"No, not a robot." Stark had corrected him, "Robot means slave. He will be a friend and an assistant."

James nodded. He liked the way Stark spoke about his creations. Less like he owned them and more like they were co-workers. He hoped their relationship would be the same as that in the field.

He liked watching Stark work as well. The man seemed to lose himself in his work and was quite content to let James sit there and observe him. He clearly understood the way James' mind worked. That constant need to know what was going on with everyone in the room he was in.

"So, we need to go and see Pierce again in around half an hour. You ready?" Stark asked, not looking up from his work.

"Hmm." James hummed, "Should I do my hair?

Stark spun around on his stool to face James, gobsmacked.

"Snowflake, was that a joke?" Stark asked.

James didn't reply, but a small smile graced his face.

Stark shook his head and smiled as well, wider than James did, before turning back to his desk.

\---

"Congratulations, soldier." Pierce spat out the word soldier like it was poisonous, "You've been cleared for active duty."

Stark made James give him a high five once they'd stepped out of that ridiculous office.


End file.
